Sharon agrees to delay Gaza evacuation

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has agreed to delay the pullout from the Gaza Strip by three weeks, ostensibly to avoid a conflict with a Jewish period of mourning.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, moving ahead on promises to reform his corrupt and unwieldy security services, has chosen three people to head a consolidated force, Palestinian government officials said.

Abbas has also authorised the forced retirement of two senior figures, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The two are Moussa Arafat, the cousin of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and Amin al-Hindi, the head of general intelligence in the Palestinian territories, the officials said.

In recent days, Sharon, who had fended off attempts to stall the dismantling of all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four in the northern West Bank, abruptly consented to consider a postponement, ostensibly because of a Jewish mourning period marking the destruction of the biblical temples.

Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz yesterday backed postponing the start of the evacuation from late July until August 15.

A senior government official said Sharon planned to announce the delay early next month, immediately after the Jewish Passover holiday ends.

The late-July timetable for the evacuation coincides with a three-week mourning period for the destruction of the biblical Jewish Temples, and though officials had known all along about the observance, it suddenly became an issue this week.

Sharon has denied the government is using the religious rationale to cover for a lack of preparation for the pullout and resettlement of the 9,000 people who are to be evacuated.

Alternative housing and other plans haven’t been put in place, only in part because settlers haven’t co-operated with government efforts to relocate them.